Romney raises $170 million in September

President Obama and Mitt Romney campaigned in the key state of Ohio, where two new polls show a very close race. Jan Crawford has the latest details.

BOSTON, Mass. -  As Mitt Romney's campaign announced on Monday that it raised a personal-best $170 million in September, his top donors are gathering at Manhattan's Waldorf Astoria hotel for a three-day retreat at which they will attend strategy sessions, rub elbows with Republican luminaries and cheer on their candidate at a debate party featuring comedian Dennis Miller.

The $170 million figure is almost as much as the near-record $181 million that President Obama raised last month. The Romney campaign believes it needs to bring in even more in October to capitalize on his recent improving showing in swing states such as Florida and Ohio.

Romney's well-received performance in the initial debate led to raising $12 million in online donations in less than 48 hours.

"This is truly an incredible testament to this group's commitment and hard work and represents the largest amount of money we have raised to date in any given month of the campaign," Romney campaign officials said in a memo.

The campaign's New York event is the second three-day fundraiser conference of its kind that the Romney campaign has held for its top bundlers. The first, in Park City, Utah in June, included seminars with Condoleeza Rice, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Jeb Bush, Karl Rove, and others, as well as an appearance by the Republican nominee himself. Romney is not scheduled to stop by the Manhattan meetings.

According to a schedule of the retreat, posted online by the Sunlight Foundation, the event kicks off on Monday evening with a gala reception and dinner on board the aircraft carrier Intrepid, now a military and maritime museum. Romney's running mate, Paul Ryan, is scheduled to attend, along with former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and Donald Trump.

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Tuesday's schedule begins with a "Campaign and Strategy Briefing" in the grand ballroom of the Waldorf. Several top Romney officials will address the group, including political director Rich Beeson, pollster Neil Newhouse, and senior advisors Ed Gillespie and Beth Meyers.

Following the strategy session, the fundraisers will hear from a panel about "Issues facing America - Jobs." Among the high-profile speakers are Carlos Gutierrez, the former U.S. secretary of Commerce; Charles Schwab, CEO of Charles Schwab Corp.; Scott McNealy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems. Also on hand will be two men whose success stories Romney often touts on the campaign trail: Jimmy John Liautaud, founder of the Jimmy John's sandwich franchise, and Harold Hamm, the Oklahoma oilman who made billions on the North Dakota Bakken oil boom.

The day will conclude with a debate watch party at New York's legendary Roseland Ballroom in midtown Manhattan, where Miller is scheduled to perform. It will mark the second time in less than a month that Miller has entertained Romney's donors. The Republican nominee thanked the comedian "for not just the humor, but the truth in the humor" after his remarks at a September fundraiser at the Beverly Hills Hilton.

[tvwatcher5345]

sorry sheldon adelson, you will not get your canidate in and you will not get another war for israel, you and the republicans should read the first part of psalm 52 to see what is in store for you

[hlmelsaidtwitter]

Raise grassroots support.

[SuKeCe]

Nottblue:
Get a clue. ID's are not required to live in America. Specific ID's needed for voting exclude (mostly less fortunate) American's and the GOP knows it. Doesn't every registered citizen deserve a vote? Shouldn't registering determine who a person is and whether he/she is eligible to vote?

I sense that you are out of touch with how the less fortunate (economically) get along with limited photo ID.

What if you had no vehicle? Why would a person have a driver's license?
What if you had no vacation money to travel? Why get a passport?
What if you are living hand to mouth? Why get a bank account that takes service fees? No need for an ID for withdrawals.
Do you get this?

I managed a company where 75% of the staff did NOT have a bank account. No one had a passport. Most had driver's licenses, but it was a town of 6500 people and driving was mandatory. Bigger cities with transportation do not require citizens to have a license to drive a vehicle.

I hope all people who want to vote this election indeed get a chance to do so.
Have you checked your voting registration? Or, are you certain you were not purged?

[srjmsbnd]

I resent the facts that the media harps on in these knuckleheads raise so much momney in what amounts to a Homeland Security, National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation police state where they get in everybody's business and all they can talk about is how much money it costs! Talking about runaway costs and the need to rim back expenses who the hell told these elitist idiots to spend over One Billion Dollars US on a job that pays only $400,000 a year in addition to all the other money they waste with conservative neo-liberal agendas? If George W Bush was the abuser of civil liberties as Torturer in Chief whose administration violated security protocols by leaking identities of CIA agents without getting arrested and Obama is the Executioner in Chief who increased the use of Drones as if that can diplomatically resolve matters.

But still all they talk about is how much money they raised when it is sad they should better understand issues, exercise leadership rather than use policy to make themselves politically stronger, and educate the public rather than allow the American people to be manipulated like a wild mob of fools that the world looks at as if we are all stupid. As the media censors by micromanagement healthy opinions honesty presented. America is falling America is Falling!

[DemtoGOP]

Unemployment rates from U S Dept. of Labor
....Got any questions now?

2008 5.0 4.9 5.1 5.0 5.4 5.6 5.8 6.1 6.1 6.5 6.8 7.3
2009 7.8 8.3 8.7 8.9 9.4 9.5 9.5 9.6 9.8 10.0 9.9 9.9
2010 9.7 9.8 9.8 9.9 9.6 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.5 9.5 9.8 9.4
2011 9.1 9.0 8.9 9.0 9.0 9.1 9.1 9.1 9.0 8.9 8.7 8.5
2012 8.3 8.3 8.2 8.1 8.2 8.2 8.3 8.1 7.8

[GOP-R--Con-Men]

Dear Fellow Americans,

It is much easier to destroy something than to repair/restore it.

Republicans along with Bush/Cheney destroyed the country and looted our treasury. They block legislation to make corporations, big oil, big pharma and the super rich pay their fair share to restore revenue. They want you to replace President Obama with Romney as they continue fight and block anything to help struggling Americans and revive the economy.

Republican behavior is nothing short of treasonous including their bogus voter I.D. laws designed to strip voters including longtime voters of their right to vote by making it unreasonably difficult to obtain the added paperwork new I.D. laws require to vote. That alone is reason enough not to vote for the republican party which has thrown our constitution in the trash. In fact republicans have more allegiance to the GOP and Grover Norquist than our constitution.

[nottblu]

do you have an I.D.??? Do you know anyone who doesn't? Do you need an I.D. to function in modern society? Get friggin clue, people who ADVOCATE FOR NO ID make it appear as something illegal is about to transpire, ok? Not the other way around, sheesh!

[bois-darc]

@NOTTBLU::::

So far this voting season the Republicans are the only ones involved in a major voting scandal: their voter IDs did not seem to stop it!!!!